Progress has been made in recent years in increasing the screen size and thinning plasma displays and liquid crystal displays. Given the high image quality of these displays, the glare of light and objects on the screen greatly affects the appearance of the image, making it necessary to impart antireflection performance.
PDP, LCD, and other such displays provided with a film obtained by coating with a hard coat agent in recent years also caused problems such as difficulty seeing the display screen due to reflection and a tendency to eye fatigue, necessitating hard coat treatment having surface antireflection performance, depending on the use. Methods of preventing surface reflection include a method of coating a composition of matter wherein inorganic fillers or organic fillers are dispersed in a photosensitive resin on top of the film to impart unevenness to the surface and prevent reflection (AG treatment), a method of providing a multilayered structure in the order high refractive index layer, low refractive index layer on the film and preventing glare and reflection utilizing light interference due to the difference in refractive index (AR treatment), AG/AR treatment combining the two above methods, and the like.
The increased mounting of touch panels on displays in recent years has also led to many instances of adhesion of fingerprints, sebum, perspiration, cosmetics, and other such soiling through direct contact of a person with the display. Once such soil has adhered, it is not easy to remove. Soil and scratches are also conspicuous since many displays are used in environments, whether indoors or outdoors, where external light is incident.
Optical films endowed with an antireflection function as well as scratch resistance and antifouling property are required for display panels to solve these problems.
In Patent Reference 1, providing an antifouling layer on a low refractive index layer makes it difficult for fingerprints, sebum, and the like to adhere, but providing an antifouling layer is related to deterioration of productivity. In Patent Reference 2, silicone oil is added to a low refractive index layer, and the slipperiness of the surface is said to improve. However, silicone has the property of tending to hold fingerprints, and the drawback is that it is not easy to wipe away fingerprints on the surface. In Patent Reference 3, many of the above problems are solved, but it is difficult to call the scratch resistance and chemical resistance adequate.